Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB) Shares Bought by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. (NYSE:ITUB - Free Report) by 7.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,126,490 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 208,750 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Itaú Unibanco were worth $15,507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 23.2% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 25,586 shares of the bank's stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 4,823 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 23.3% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 24,959 shares of the bank's stock worth $166,000 after purchasing an additional 4,720 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 1.3% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,899,587 shares of the bank's stock worth $174,930,000 after acquiring an additional 346,390 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Itaú Unibanco by 5.4% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 50,829,515 shares of the bank's stock valued at $338,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,604,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northcape Capital Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Itaú Unibanco by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Northcape Capital Pty Ltd now owns 9,765,549 shares of the bank's stock worth $48,437,000 after buying an additional 643,532 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on ITUB. HSBC raised shares of Itaú Unibanco from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $6.18 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Itaú Unibanco to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Itaú Unibanco from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $6.27.

Itaú Unibanco Stock Performance

Itaú Unibanco stock traded up $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $6.15. The company's stock had a trading volume of 21,312,453 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,086,305. The firm has a market cap of $66.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.88, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $5.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. has a twelve month low of $4.42 and a twelve month high of $6.30.

Itaú Unibanco (NYSE:ITUB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The bank reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.01). Itaú Unibanco had a return on equity of 19.46% and a net margin of 12.25%. Sell-side analysts predict that Itaú Unibanco Holding S.A. will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Itaú Unibanco Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 19th were issued a dividend of $0.0527 per share. This is an increase from Itaú Unibanco's previous dividend of $0.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 19th. Itaú Unibanco's payout ratio is 2.82%.

About Itaú Unibanco

Itaú Unibanco Holding SA offers a range of financial products and services to individuals and corporate customers in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Activities with the Market + Corporation. It offers current account; loans; credit and debit cards; investment and commercial banking services; real estate lending services; financing and investment services; economic, financial and brokerage advisory; and leasing and foreign exchange services.